The order was given during a monthly briefing conference chaired by the General Director on June 3.

He also emphasised the need for the agency to further innovate its content, forms, and communication methods. This would ensure that citizens can have access to all information related to social and health insurance.

The agency had to synchronously implement measures. These measures aim to develop participants, resolve and pay out benefits promptly for social, unemployment and health insurance, and strengthen random inspections to handle violations.

Furthermore, the agency was told to maximise the effectiveness of information technology and its database to prevent fraud, misuse of funds; implement measures to manage funds safely, sustainably, efficiently, and simplify administrative procedures; expand online service provision to level 4, speed up digital transformation; improve and connect specialised data systems regarding social and health insurance as well as the National Insurance Database.

General Director of Viet Nam Social Security Nguyen The Manh chairs the conference on June 3 in Ha Noi

He called for the units of the agency to maintain close collaboration with relevant ministries and sectors throughout the the process of researching and amending the Law on Social Insurance and the Law on Health Insurance. Additionally, he urged them to produce assessment reports on the current situation and suggest amendments to the laws to ensure they align with practical requirements.

Furthermore, he emphasised the need for units to accelerate the implementation of tasks, review and release plans and programmes promptly. The primary focus should be on safeguarding the rights of citizens and employees, with particular attention given to protecting the rights of health insurance participants.

Also at the conference, he praised the overall achievements of the agency in the first five months of this year.

He assessed that the agency's key indicators had all increased compared to the same period, showing a favourable start.

However, the challenges of this year tasks were significant, so the agency should not be negligent or complacent, he said.

At the conference, Deputy Director General of Viet Nam Social Security Tran Dinh Lieu said that through monitoring and direct work in some localities in May, he noticed that the implementation of social and health insurance policies had shown some progress but had not been truly effective.

Therefore, he suggested that local authorities strictly adhere to the scenarios issued by Viet Nam Social Security, maximising the role of the Steering Committee for Social and Health Insurance Implementation at all levels, especially at the district and commune levels.

Regarding the drafting of amended laws, he suggested the agency’s units adhering to jurisdiction to provide optimal, accurate and practical recommendations.

In the meantime, Deputy General Director of Viet Nam Social Security Dao Viet Anh told the units to strengthen thematic communication, focus on serving objectives, bringing benefits to citizens and businesses; improving management effectiveness, preventing abuse of social and health insurance.

Deputy General Director of Viet Nam Social Security Nguyen Duc Hoa required the units to continue to evaluate the results of implementing the Law on Health Insurance, identifying practical difficulties and proposing recommendations to ensure the best practicality in building the amended Health Insurance Law.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Chair Commissioner of the Viet Nam Social Security Board of Commissioners Nguyen Van Cuong proposed to review the functions and tasks of the Viet Nam Social Security and the commissioners in the draft amended Law on Social Insurance, thereby ensuring consistency and avoiding overlaps and conflicts after the law is enacted.

He also noted that when advising on policy mechanisms and regulations regarding investment in insurance funds and financial mechanisms, the Viet Nam Social Security needed to coordinate between the Ministry of Finance and the commissioners before sending the opinions to the drafting agency - the Ministry of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs and then the ministry would submit to the National Assembly for approval.

All indicators increase

A report from the Viet Nam Social Security shows that by the end of May 2024, all key indicators related to the development of social, health insurance and unemployment insurance increased compared to the same period last year.

Specifically, there were approximately 17.414 million people participating in social insurance, an increase of 1.67 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Among them, nearly 16 million people participated in compulsory social insurance while approximately 1.45 million people participated in voluntary social insurance.

Photo: Participants at the conference

Nationwide, there were 14.253 million people participating in unemployment insurance, an increase of 1.67 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In particular, the agency flexibly implemented many measures to develop health insurance participants and achieved positive results with approximately 90.614 million people participating, an increase of 0.02 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The total revenue of social, health insurance and unemployment insurance was estimated to reach VND195.4 trillion (US$7.65 billion), an increase of VND16.37 trillion ($641.8 million) compared to the same period last year.

As a result, the Viet Nam Social Security resolved pension and social insurance allowance monthly for 30,194 people and one-time social insurance benefits for 126,462 people; made payments for 543,4576 people of illness, maternity, convalescence, and health recovery benefits.

Nationwide, there were more than 14.5 million people examined and treated under the cover of the health insurance fund.

Duong Van Hao, Director of Department of Social Insurance Book and Health Insurance Card said that in May, there were many positive signs in the development of social, health and unemployment insurance participants in various localities.

The number of participants increased by 100,000 people compared to the previous month.

Some localities recorded high increases in participants such as Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An and Ha Noi.

Along with that, the emergence of new businesses and the return of businesses to operation also provided good opportunities for participant development, he said.

Regarding voluntary social insurance, currently, the Steering Committee of the Department of Social Insurance Implementation and Department of Health Insurance Implementation in localities had been improved.

About 60 per cent of the localities nationwide had the steering committee at the commune level.

However, it was necessary to further enhance the role of village and hamlet heads; thereby continuing to promote the three-side coordination mechanism, consisting of social insurance agency, collection service organisation, and commune-level authority.

Social Security Office in localities must ensure a coordinating role, develop a system of collection service organisations and avoid overlaps and wasting resources./.